As a future teacher I have found myself wondering whether using facebook with my classes would be a beneficial aspect to my teaching career and for the students. After long thought I really think it would be a good idea to stay away from using it with your students. Facebook is a great SOCIAL network but for me, as a teacher, I would not feel comfortable using it as a tool in the classroom. One reason I feel this way is for personal privacy for you and your students. There is a fine line as a male teacher in the classroom that shouldnt be crossed already and if I were to incorporate facebook into the classroom I feel that crossing that line is harder to control. On facebook anyone who writes on your wall or shares in a group, their comments are automatically associated with you. you would need to constantly be on facebook to monitor your profile and comments made in order to keep the site policed in a way that stayed appropriate for you and your students. This could be a dangerous road to journey on in your career. As a teacher I do not want to be exposed to the inappropriate photos and comments of future students. Kids these days put too much personalized information about themselves on the internet. Having access to this information can effect your view of that student, which could effect your relationship with the student in the classroom. This is the same for them of you leading to a lack of respect.
Another point that played into my decision was, what would their parents think of this. While some may think that it is a good thing to use for school, I thought about my parents while I was in high school and i decided to give my good ol’ mom and girlfriends mother a call to see what they think about it…..dialing…..
My girlfriends mother has a 15 year old son in grade ten, she stated, “Why on God’s earth would I as a parent want any teacher interacting on a social level with my child?!” and my mother stated, “No, it’s not appropriate. Teachers have to follow a code of conduct with their interactions with students because they could get into personal issues that they should not be involved with. This could lead to legal implications if content is inappropriate. You, as a teacher, want to insure that you cannot be implicated or you could ultimately lose your job.” and my Aunt who is a retired teacher stated, “It’s difficult, there is an invisible line you dont want to cross. It would be nice to be able to do that but then the line gets murky. There is no control over what content is put up, and that is scarey as a teacher.”
These statements helped me understand that it’s too risky, as a teacher, to use facebook with your students no matter how careful you are.
As a facebook user I am friends with many of my old and current university professors. For me this is okay because I am an adult student and I have the maturity level and professionalism to watch what I post on facebook. There is a completely different level of maturity when looking at the difference between high school and University.
Now this is my personal opinion about using facebook with your students. I will not use it in my classroom, I think its great if my students use it for what it is, a social network, but I will stay away from using it in that manner. Facebook is a great social identity tool on the internet and I will continue to use it that way but not with my students.